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Friday, April 20, 2012

Blenheim Lagoons

I went to the Blenheim Lagoons yesterday (April 19) for the first time. These are some shots of some of the birds there. If the Canada Geese hadn't announced my arrive so loudly and continuously, I may have been able to get some better shots, but, because they decided to cause such a raucous, all the ducks either swam to the far side of the lagoon or took off. With the ducks being so far away, I couldn't get my camera to auto-focus on the birds I wanted, so I had to switch to manual focus....I learned something though....I am really bad at manual focus!

Male and Female Bonaparte`s Gulls

Everytime I have seen Buffleheads, they run away. Here is the first time I saw them...running away.

Female Bufflehead

Another female Bufflehead

And another...

I was really surprised to see the next few photos turned out as well as they did....not only was the lens on manual, but I was panning as well. Blurry, yes, but better than expected :) Life bird too!

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

There were several Northern Shovelers in the water too...this is the best shot I got of one. Another life bird!

Northern Shoveler in the middle

This next bird I am not sure of its identity. To me, it looks closest to a Meadowlark, but the position of the bird makes it tough to be certain....any ideas??
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Blonde moment...female Red-winged Blackbird..thanks Karen :)

And these ducks...there were quite a few of them in the water too, but I can't tell what they are. I got several shots, but none any clearer than this....any ideas??

Possible Ring-necked Ducks...thanks Karen :)

I really enjoyed visiting the Lagoons....I was there all by myself for about 1.25 hours, just sitting on the edge of the lagoon (in a rare goose poop free area), watching the swallows perform their acrobatics and watching all the ducks and geese. Very peaceful place...aside from the Canada Geese that is :)

5 comments:

The quiet 1.25hrs sounds nice! Nice shots of the "walking" buffleheads. I hear you on the manual focus! I find the new auto focus lenses are terrible for manual focusing. A slight movement changes focus a lot. Congrats on another life bird.

That looks like a female Red-winged Blackbird to me and the ducks look like Ring-necked Ducks.There is a fantastic book called "Waterfowl of Eastern North America" by Chris G. Earley that has proven to be very helpful. There are 3 other books by the same author, "Sparrows & Finches", "Warblers" and "Hawks & Owls". I highly recommend them.

Karen!!!!! How have you been? I have missed you ;) I hope all is well...

Silly me...yes, that is a Red-winged Blackbird female...blonde moment I guess! I have Chris Earley's Warblers book...I will look into the Waterfowl book for sure..I am horrible with ducks! Thanks for your help!

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About Me

I am a recently "retired" homeschooling mom of two children. My son is now in College and we made the decision this year to send my daughter to high school for grade 10. I enjoy reading, birdwatching, and learning about photography. This blog is a more like a diary of my birding experiences and some of my favourite bird photos. Take a look around...comment if you like something :)
Please leave me a comment and do correct me if I've misidentified a bird.